Abuja : Members of Nigeria’s armed terrorist group Boko Haram have killed 48 people in an attack on fish sellers near the border with Chad, a media report said Sunday.
The attack took place Thursday, but the news took several days to come to light because Boko Haram has destroyed mobile phone masts in the area, BBC reported.
In Thursday’s attack, the traders were on their way to Chad to buy fish when militants blocked their path near Doron Baga village, some 180km north of Maiduguri in Borno state.
It was the second major attack in two days in Borno state by Boko Haram.
The radicals attacked Azaya Kura Wednesday, just one day before the Nigerian government refused to extend the state of emergency imposed 18 months ago in Borno and two other northeastern states in the country due to the Boko Haram attacks.
The attack was apparently aimed at punishing the community after four insurgents were pointed out to soldiers and were shot dead.
Boko Haram has been waging an insurgency in Nigeria since 2009.
Boko Haram means “non-Islamic education is a sin” and the militants are fighting to impose Sharia law in Nigeria, a country that is mostly inhabited by Muslims in the north and by Christians in the south.
Security experts say that Boko Haram controls an area spread over 221,000 sq km in northeastern Nigeria and has killed over 3,000 people since the beginning of 2014.